Career Building vs Calling

Our calling is the gift we give the world while we are still alive. Our legacy is our gift to the world after we die.

Have you thought before for what do you do for living? 

Yale professor Amy Wrzesniewski has done a research with employees in their workplace and answered that question, he divided people into three groups, regardless of the industry they work in, the social status of their profession, or their pay.

Firs: Doing A Job

When you have a job, your main goal is often to earn a living and support your family. 

A job is not your calling, no matter how much money it will allow you to make or how it allows you to serve people. A job is only a vehicle with the potential to take you toward your calling (will discuss it in the third group). That’s the way you should think of it.

The quote “if you choose a job you love, you will never have to work a day in your life.” Indeed it’s a good advice, but it should be a starting point, not an ending goal.

Second: Building Career 

When you have a career, it’s a sign that you are headed in a direction, you’re making progress attaining positive achievements. It’s a step forward rather than just holding a job. 

Three factors will identify if you are successful in your career; first: if your skills are advanced toward mastery, second: you are getting larger responsibility, third and finally you are granted greater earnings.

Personally, I become aware of building my career before early, but I didn’t commit seriously to building my career, until 2007, where I got an advice from my mentor to start building my career, and he used a term, “Build Your Resume” now after 12 years from that advice, I look back and find that I succeed in reaching the pinnacle in building the career that I love. Indeed it took from me several years to realize the ways to develop my career, but one thing that I was sure about that I have growth mind-set also I was lucky to be surrounded with the right people whom guided me to where am I today.

Let me share with you a story, after joining my first job with Morganti Inc. in 2005, the Area Manager invited all new joiners for dinner, during the dinner he shared how he developed his career and shared how he struggled at the begging of his career, he concluded with a straightforward advice, “don’t look for earning money (salaries/benefits) in your first seven years, if you succeeded in your first seven years the rewards will be bigger than you imagine.” Frankly, we were confused, because our salary rate that time was higher than the market as a fresh graduates, and most of us were looking to start building a family not a career (because we have a JOB) but his advice was to focus on building career, while you are pursuing other dreams. 

Looking back I find that he was right and I succeeded in both; building career and family. 

Third: Fulfilling your calling

If we look up in the dictionary for the definition of “Calling” we will find it as a strong urge toward a particular way of life or career; a vocation. Also, it can be a profession or occupation an example: he considered engineering one of the highest possible callings. 

Author Frederick Buechner goes beyond that and mentioned that our purpose is a that place where our deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.”

Finding your calling is like finding your why—the reason you exist, your purpose for living. When you do, it changes everything:

When you find your Why—you find your Way.

When you find your Why—you find your Will.

When you find your Why—you find your Wings.

Your life will never be the same once you know what you’re called to do and are working to fulfill it every day. It will make use of your experience, your gifts, and the lessons you’ve learned.

How to search for your calling? 

John C. Maxwell the bestseller author in Leadership believes that everyone has the potential to find and fulfill his or her purpose. Everyone has the ability to be called. In each of us there is a desire to know more and be more. There is something in us that calls to something bigger. 

Richard Leider, author, coach, and founder of Inventure, the Purpose Company, has written extensively on the subjects of purpose and calling. He said:

“The search for callings is not a trend. It is something much deeper. If it needs a label, it is a searcher. James Kavanaugh captured the essence of the drive when he wrote, “I am one of the searchers. There are, I believe, millions of us. We are not unhappy, but neither are we really content. We continue to explore life, hoping to uncover its ultimate secret. We humans are searchers for meaning. . . . Work has meaning if it serves others. Calling joins self and service. As Aristotle said, 

“Where our talents and the needs of the world cross, there lies our vocation.” 

One of the best examples for calling is expressed by Oprah Winfrey, when she accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 25th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, she explained how she was lighting to answer her calling

She mentioned: 

“We are all beacons of light for each other....’God, I don't know what the future holds for me. But I know that there is a vision for my life that is greater than my imagination can hold, use me, God what would you have me to do?’ And that dream, that desire that prayer, brought me somehow to television. 

And to be able to use this tremendous vehicle of television to go into people's homes, and somehow be able to touch their lives, ...To be a light of hope and understanding, to share some sense of illumination that maybe sometimes reflects peoples lives, and sometimes opens them up to themselves is the greatest blessing God could have given me.

And I want to continue to use television as we become more polarized in this medium I choose to use it in whatever way I can, we can, to make people lead better lives. To lead them to the highest vision possible for themselves That is the goal.” 

“When it is your calling, you won’t have to chase it. You will be captivated by it.”

Below I will help you to understand calling so that you can find yours if you haven’t already done so. I want you to be ready when it comes: 

1. YOUR CALLING MATCHES WHO YOU ARE

Self-Awareness is crucial to find your calling, you may ask yourself several of the below questions that can help you think about calling:

?If you could do one thing for the rest of your life, even if you never got paid for it, what would you do?

?What do people often ask for your help with?

?What experiences have you had that you desire to help others with?

?What lights you up?

?What do you love learning about?

?What could you talk about for hours and hours?

?What can you do to make a positive difference in the lives of others?

2. YOUR CALLING TAPS INTO YOUR PASSION

Talent, skills, experience, and opportunities all align with calling, but passion provides the fuel to pursue your calling. 

Passion is a great driver toward calling, I have written before an article “Do you know your passion?” Where I shared how I discovered my passion and till date it’s fuel me up to do what I love. Writing this article lies in my passion.

Still, if you’re not sure about where your passion lies, ask yourself some of these questions:

?How do my strengths fuel my passion?

?What opportunities align with my passion?

?How does what I love to do point to my passion?

?How does what I do well contribute to my passion?

?How does my history of success coincide with my passion?

?Where does my desire to grow increase my passion?

One of the best books in the power of Passion is “Grit” for Angela Duckworth, where she finds that the combination of Passion and Preservation are the factors that made the higher achievers special, which is GRIT.

3. YOUR CALLING IS IMPORTANT TO YOU, BUT IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU

It’s about helping others. “As Nelson Mandela said,

 “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”

John C. Maxwell in his book “Intentional Living” defined significance as

?giving beyond yourself,

?serving beyond yourself,

?thinking beyond yourself,

?loving beyond yourself, and

?seeing beyond yourself.

4. YOUR CALLING IS BIGGER THAN YOU

Calling always involves something that feels big, something that’s bigger than you are. It may intimidate you. It may even seem impossible. Yet you feel compelled to get out of your comfort zone to fulfill it.

5. YOUR CALLING CHANGES YOUR PERSPECTIVE

A calling lifts our hearts and expands our options. It can make even the mundane meaningful. It drastically changes our perspective for the better. Once you saw only obligations and responsibilities, you will begin to see options and opportunities.

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/we-cant-live-yesterday-standard-expect-winner-today-samer-ghazo

Jack Welch one time said “We can’t live in yesterday’s standers and expected to be winners today” and I was inspired and wrote an article about perspective holding the same quote.

Perspective is a must-have skill for leaders. 

6. YOUR CALLING GIVES YOU PURPOSE

Take a look at the benefits of the strong sense of purpose that accompanies calling:

?Purpose will motivate you—Passion

?Purpose will keep your priorities straight—Discipline

?Purpose will develop your potential—Stretch

?Purpose will give you power to live in the present—Awareness

?Purpose will help you elevate your progress—Growth

?Purpose will direct your habits—Consistency

?Purpose will perpetuate an intentional lifestyle—Significance

7. YOUR CALLING HELPS YOU TO OVERCOME OBSTACLES

Dave Ramsey once said, “Higher calling matters. When you care so deeply about the why—why you’re doing what you’re doing—then and only then are you operating in a way that allows you to overcome the obstacles.”

8. YOUR CALLING BRINGS FULFILLMENT

Nothing in life is as rewarding as fulfilling your calling—nothing.

John C. Maxwell best advice on this is to be attentive. Pay attention to your feelings. Take time to reflect. Learn from your experiences. Never dismiss your dreams. And when your moment comes, embrace it.

He continues .. “people who have a sense of calling need to maintain a daily focus without losing their long-term perspective. I Think of this as using both the clock and the compass: 

The clock helps me to stay on track with what I’m doing today. It encourages me to invest in my daily activities and to keep appointments. It allows me to fulfill the mission of the moment.

The compass helps me to stay on track with my destiny. It allows me to focus on the vision. It helps me know where I’m going. I maintain my overall values. I keep the vision before me. It allows me to fulfill the mission of my calling.”

“Our calling is the gift we give the world while we are still alive. Our legacy is our gift to the world after we die.”

????? ?????? ???????? ??? ?? ?????? ?????? ?? ????? ???? ?? ??? ??? ???? ????? ??????? ???? ?????? ????? ??? ???? ??????? ???????? ???? ???? ???? ????? ??? ???????? ???????? ??????? ???????? ??????? ??????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ????? ?????????? ???????? ????? ????????? ????? ?????? ??????? ?????????? ????? ???? ?????? ??????? ????? ???????? ?????????? ????? ??????????? ????????? ?????????? ????????? ??? ?????????? ?????????? ????? ??????????? ????????? ??????? ???? ??????? ???????

Reference: Maxwell John .C, Leadershift, 2018